Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 279 Summoning Universe
1971 years.

Monroe, Connecticut, USA.

After that familiar feeling of being transported to a half-dreaming, half-awake space, Jiang Jin found himself standing in a dimly lit living room with a 1970s American style.

Solid wood furniture, patterned sofas, an old-fashioned television, and a faint aroma of coffee filled the air. He quickly looked around, and other figures began to appear around him.

First was Blood Lord, whose aura was weak but whose eyes were still sharp. He clutched his abdomen, which seemed to have been treated but was still aching. His LV3 Soul Refiner power seemed to be more unstable due to the cross-realm teleportation. He was about to fall to the LV2 Ghost Raiser level, which was probably equivalent to Wu Qin back then.

Next came a pair of brothers who looked shaken and were supporting each other—the older brother Lian Xuan and the younger brother Lian De were curiously looking around.

In addition, there are three reincarnators: a tall, calm woman, a short girl who looks somewhat timid but has sharp eyes, and a burly, wary man.

The seven people are the team of reincarnators in this instance.

Almost simultaneously, the main quest appeared on Jiang Jin's left retina:

"Reincarnator Jiang Jin, you have entered the [Summoning Souls] horror instance."

Main Mission: As a student of paranormal investigation experts Ed and Lorraine Warren, assist them in performing an exorcism on the Perron family home in Harrisville, Rhode Island. During the process, you must follow the Warrens' instructions without disobeying or harming them. Be wary of omnipresent evil forces and survive until the exorcism is successful.

"Students of the Warrens? The Perron family of Rhode Island?" Jiang Jin murmured to himself. He had watched a short video review of "The Conjuring 1" a long time ago, but the specific plot was vague. He only remembered that the director was James Wan, the director of "Saw".

"Thank goodness, it's 'The Conjuring 1'." Blood Lord breathed a sigh of relief. "Looks like we won't encounter the demon nun Valak in the movie."

"But," Jiang Jin said doubtfully, "we were dragged in by the evil nun?"

"The demon nun?" Lian Xuan looked at Jiang Jin in confusion. "We're not. We were dragged in by the hunchback."

"A hunchbacked man?" Jiang Jin asked疑惑地, "What is that?"

Blood Lord explained, "That's the terrifying image that appeared in the movie 'The Conjuring 2,' which was already in the works before the fall of Edo. It's now been indefinitely postponed. The 'Conjuring' series has also ended as a result, and there's no hope of a fourth installment ever being released."

At this moment, the seemingly calm woman hurriedly asked, "Hello sir, I am a Level 2 Priestess Puppet Master. You are very knowledgeable about the Summoning series? That's wonderful! What's your name?"

Blood Lord replied, "Ye Xiao, Soul Master LV2 Ghost Raider."

He has now completely fallen to LV2. Ye Xiao is naturally an alias; it's too shameful for the dignified Blood Lord to be ambushed and demoted.

Jiang Jin, seeing that Blood Owl Lord was using a false name, naturally wouldn't expose him. He had heard Yu Tianlun mention that Blood Owl Lord's codename back in the Insect Nest team was "Night Owl." Yu Tianlun remembered this vividly because he also had a reincarnator under his command with the codename Night Owl, who unfortunately died in the [Hundred Ghosts Parade] instance.

"Hello, my name is Lian Xuan, and this is my younger brother, Lian De. We are a Level 2 Spirit Medium and a Level 2 Priest." Lian Xuan introduced himself, pulling his brother along.

Jiang Jin was startled. He had heard Yu Tianlun mention the brothers before: "You two are the Xuande brothers? I heard that you two brothers killed a Level 3 Reincarnator together!"

This is quite an achievement, after all, neither mediums nor priests are professions that are good at killing reincarnators of higher levels.

“My name is Li Zheng,” the burly man said immediately. “I am a shaman, although I am only a level 1 shaman.”

And the short girl timidly said, "I, I am a Soul Reaper, LV1 Soul Locker."

Finally, Jiang Jin introduced himself: "My name is Jiang Jin, Hunter LV2 Ghost Hunter."

"You're Jiang Jin?" Lian Xuan was immediately taken aback: "The vice-captain of the Nirvana Team?"

Just then, a cheerful voice came from the doorway: "Kids, come here for a moment. A reporter is here to conduct an interview. Please help introduce him."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a composed middle-aged man in a shirt and vest standing in the doorway—it was Ed Warren. Behind him was a black man in a suit, clearly the reporter who had come to interview him.

He looked exactly like his character in the movie, with a steadfastness and peace in his eyes that came from years of dealing with the supernatural.

Blood Lord had watched almost the entire Conjuring film universe back in the day. Even when he was only in his twenties and hadn't yet become a Conjuring member, he was a huge fan of James Wan's horror films. Ed Warren's actor is Patrick Wilson, Wan's go-to actor, who also starred in the famous Insidious series. Seeing him in person now feels quite unreal.

He and his wife, Lorraine Warren, are the main characters in this film series. He is a Catholic-licensed exorcist, and she has a natural psychic ability. They have solved numerous ghost stories, almost all of which are based on real American paranormal phenomena.

The seven people exchanged glances and followed Ed and the black reporter to another area of ​​the house—the famous paranormal museum.

The room where the museum was located was more spacious than I had imagined, but the lighting was dimmer, with only a few spotlights illuminating some special exhibits.

The glass display cases and shelves held a variety of unsettling items: distorted statues, ancient masks, rusted knives, and even one that looked like ancient Japanese samurai armor… Each item seemed to emanate a faint, almost imperceptible, negative energy. “Everything is locked up here,” Ed Warren told the Black reporter. “Please feel free to look around, but don’t touch anything.”

A Black reporter looked around with a mixture of curiosity and nervousness.

“This is insane…” After scanning the area, the Black reporter asked, “Did you obtain all of this from the cases you were investigating?”

Blood Lord suddenly spoke up at this moment, speaking fluent American English: "That's right, sir, what you see here has either been haunted, cursed, or used in some kind of ritual. Not some kind of toy... including that toy monkey."

What he said was basically the same line Ed said to the black reporter in the movie.

The Black reporter was crouching down, intending to touch a monkey doll that looked rather comical.

Blood Lord warned, "Do not touch this doll, sir, if you do not wish to be cursed."

Clearly, the Black journalists didn't really believe in the Warrens' paranormal museum at all, and most of them came to interview them with the intention of "exposing the charlatans."

“Okay,” the black reporter stood up, looked at the Blood Lord, and asked, “I wonder if keeping such a terrifying thing in your home means these things aren’t that terrifying, or…”

His gaze then fell on Ed.

"Or are you not worried about this at all, Mr. Warren?"

Ed Warren seemed to have anticipated the reporter's question, replying, "So, I will ask the pastor to come to this room once a month to offer blessings."

Upon hearing this, Lian De's heart stirred.

As a level 2 shrine priest, he wouldn't mind changing his deity here to further enhance his power. Could it be that a god truly exists in this terrifying dungeon?
The reporter then continued to ask provocative questions, questioning why these things weren't simply burned, with the aim of exposing Ed as a fraudulent charlatan.

Ed explained that doing so would only burn away its skin, and he said it was better to seal the monster in a bottle.

Jiang Jin deeply agreed with Ed's words. When an evil spirit chooses to attach itself to an object in the material world, it's essentially creating an "anchor" or "shell" for itself there; in the real world, this is called an ominous object. Approximately 20% of those who reincarnate do so because of contact with ominous objects.

Evil spirits gain a degree of ability to interfere with reality by attaching themselves to ominous objects, such as Chucky from *Child's Play* and Billy the Puppet from *Dead Silence*. However, this is a double-edged sword; the material rules of the physical world greatly limit the scope of a spirit's activities and the exertion of its power. Therefore, their true nature is actually trapped in the gap between the material and the mysterious worlds; the doll is both their sanctuary and their prison.

Finally, the Black reporter asked the question he was most curious about.

"So... the Annabelle doll is here?"

Ed seemed to have anticipated the reporter's request to see the Annabelle doll, and said, "This way."

He quickly led the reporter to the back, where the reporter was immediately drawn to an antique doll in a white lace dress displayed in a separate showcase—it was Annabelle.

Jiang Jin and the others also widened their eyes; this was the very doll they had found at the night amusement park!

"Mr. Warren, are you saying it's just a vessel?" The reporter pointed at Annabelle, still unconvinced.

Ed walked up to the display case and nodded seriously: "That's right."

"what does that mean?"

“Jiang Jin, tell me what you think,” Ed said to Jiang Jin.

"Yes, because an extremely powerful evil spirit is attached to this doll."

Blood Lord knew that Jiang Jin didn't know much about it, but he had seen the movie "Annabelle: Creation," so he began to tell the reporter about Annabelle's terrifying legends, how she harassed her previous owners, and how she tried to hurt others.

The reincarnators, who were acting as "students," pretended to be curious as they observed the other objects in the room.

Jiang Jin could sense that the material layer of this room had been severely infiltrated and polluted by the mysterious layer, with countless subtle, malicious thoughts floating in the air.

But there seems to be a force—perhaps Ed's unwavering belief, or perhaps some sacred objects or arrangement in the room—that is barely maintaining the stability of the material world, preventing the imprisoned evil spirits from breaking through completely.

As a Soul Master, Blood Lord possesses an even more acute perception of spirits. He can clearly "hear" the malevolent curses emanating from the sealed objects within the contaminated layer.

Judging from the film series, the Warrens' strength was actually quite average; they were at most on the edge of the Mysterious Layer, barely managing to function through their faith in God and a set of fixed exorcism rituals. Compared to true priestly professionals among the reincarnators, their method of borrowing divine power was primitive and inefficient. However, their powerful spiritual strength, resulting in high SAN values ​​and high mental resistance, was indeed a solid defense line, allowing them to operate on the boundary between the Material Layer and the Mysterious Layer for a long time without suffering a mental breakdown and falling into the more dangerous Lost Layer. Otherwise, how could they have survived indefinitely with their current strength? Any level 1 reincarnator could easily kill them.

In fact, over 90% of paranormal phenomena in human history, including so-called "ghost sightings" or taking paranormal photos, are actually due to a temporary drop in the individual's SAN value. Their mental fluctuations resonate briefly with the mysterious layer, allowing them to see wandering evil spirits or lingering shadows of the past. Even within the mysterious layer, most physical laws still partially apply. It's extremely difficult for evil spirits to directly kill a mentally stable person (high SAN value). They typically need to intimidate and harass them for a prolonged period, gradually eroding their sanity. Only when the target's SAN value continues to decrease, eventually collapsing their mental defenses and plunging them into the Lost Layer—a layer with even more chaotic rules and greatly enhanced evil spirit power—is it when they truly unleash their killing spree!
(End of this chapter)